Summary

Make an origami menagerie using only some simple paper folds. The instructions are detailed in generous, full-color illustrations. Practice the kite, valley, mountain, squash, inside and outside reverse folds, and four others to use as a base. Big bright diagrams continue to guide you through the 14 projects, including a lobster with a shell, eight-legged grasshopper, gecko with claws and long tail, winged dragonfly, and many more.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-8-Origami purists should be aware that all of the 13 creatures diagrammed here require scissors cuts, and several are assembled with glue. The results range from a clean-lined sea turtle to a highly stylized gecko, from a balloon-bodied tarantula to a wasp and a dragonfly with spiky looks and unusually long, slender legs. Nguyen includes drawings and color photos of finished models, and uses standard origami notation in his easy-to-follow diagrams; he also opens with instructions for several common folds and bases-which will likely be superfluous, as these models are not for beginners. A good choice for paper-folding enthusiasts who enjoy challenges.-John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.